Sustainability Faceoff: J.P. Morgan Chase Vs. Bank Of America

Can massive banks ever be sustainable? The numerous government loans funneled to the biggest banks within the U.S. suggest that entities like J.P. Morgan Chase and bank of the us might not be completely economically sustainable, however they are as a minimum making strides in different varieties of sustainability. author and funding adviser R. Paul Herman compares these banks in the new e book The HIP Investor. below, we do the identical.

J.P. Morgan Chase merits credit score proper off the bat for transparency. The company offers a sustainability case observe (courtesy of Accenture) on its net site, as well as a comprehensive environmental coverage, multiple CSR reviews, and a listing of environmental initiatives. J.P. Morgan also subscribes to “The Equator ideas“– a framework for evaluating danger

in social and environmental areas.

however J.P. Morgan still has some work to do. The business enterprise turned into currently given a grade of F on the Rainforest action community’s Mountaintop elimination record Card for funding mountaintop removal in coal-mining projects. The financial institution has said, however, that it's going to provide up a statement on mountaintop removal coal mining later this 12 months. J.P. Morgan may additionally don't forget lowering its CEO’s paycheck, that's presently 441 times that of the common worker in the organisation. In such unsure financial instances, a little modesty is going a protracted way.

financial institution of america, then again, receives factors for paying its CEO 173 instances what the common employee makes–extensively less than J.P. Morgan’s CEO-to-worker ratio. And the financial institution has a respectable mountaintop removal coverage, explaining (PDF report) on its net website online that “bank of america is in particular involved approximately floor mining carried out through mountain top elimination in locations including significant Appalachia. We consequently will phase out financing of agencies whose most important technique of extracting coal is thru mountain top elimination.” The financial institution also details severa environmental initiatives and commitments on its net site–the largest being a $20 billion ten-12 months plan initiated in 2007 to increase environmentally sustainable enterprise practices.

but like J.P Morgan, financial institution of the usa isn’t ideal. The corporation doesn’t offer comprensive CSR, sustainability or social responsibility reporting–it launched a 2007/2008 sustainability file, but hasn’t but released one for 2009. And at the same time as it claims to adhere to The Equator principles, BoA was accused of greenwashing in 2008 for now not offering extensive capital to those concepts.

while each J.P. Morgan Chase and bank of the us have shortcomings, each banks are appreciably improving at the sustainability the front. until this sort of banks does something to definitely pinnacle the other, we ought to declare a tie in this struggle for sustainable domination (notice: that is FastCompany.com’s opinion, not The HIP Investor‘s).advertisement

J.P. Morgan Chase

bank of the us

overview

Over five,000 bank branches within the U.S.;

$112.2 billion sales (2008); 220,255 employees

Over 6,000 places inside the U.S.; $124.1

billion sales (2008); 283,000 employees

Product

In 2007 and 2008, Chase helped prevent

approximately 330,000 foreclosure, in most cases by modifying loan phrases; searching for